Last season’s struggles gave the Yankees their highest draft pick in 22 years, providing Damon Oppenheimer with an opportunity — and some pressure.

“Yeah, it did feel a little bit more like that,” the Yankees’ director of scouting said on a conference call Thursday, three days after the team selected UCLA right-hander James Kaprielian with the 16th overall pick.

“It felt like you owe it to the Yankees and you owe it to the organization to have somebody you get with this pick that’s gonna produce and become a quality major league player. You feel like that about most of them, but when it comes to picking higher than we have since, what is it, Matt Drews or something —before I was even here — it does feel that way. I’m not gonna lie about it.”

Drews was the 13th overall pick in 1993, but the right-handed pitcher out of Sarasota High School in Florida never made it past Triple-A.

Damon OppenheimerAnthony J. Causi

Oppenheimer and the Yankees have higher expectations for Kaprielian.

“His fastball is 90 to 95, and it did get better as the year went on,” Oppenheimer said. “He’s got a plus curveball.”

The Yankees had a chance to select Brady Aiken, who was last year’s No. 1 pick by the Astros. Aiken didn’t sign with Houston after the team was scared off by a physical exam of Aiken’s elbow and reduced their signing bonus offer. He ended up getting Tommy John surgery. After re-entering the draft this year, he was taken by the Indians at No. 17.

Without getting into specifics on Aiken, Oppenheimer said the Yankees preferred healthy players.

Oppenheimer is confident the Yankees will be able to sign Kaprielian, who is still finishing up finals at UCLA.

He also has high hopes for shortstop Kyle Holder, the team’s second pick, which they received as compensation for losing David Robertson to the White Sox in free agency.

“There’s not a lot of guys, when you watch them take ground balls you go, ‘I want to watch this guy take ground balls,’” Oppenheimer said. “That’s how it was with him. I got there early in Cleveland to watch Omar Vizquel take ground balls and this guy can do some of those things Omar could do.”